How do I communicate with animals when I'm exhausted?

photo: Constance Israel

Welcome to a new feature on my blog: Ask Nancy. In these posts, I’ll answer frequently asked questions about animal communication +animal Reiki and energy healing.

If you have a question that you’d like to ask, please email us with your question and put “Ask Nancy Blog Question” in the subject line. Questions may be edited for clarity.

(Please note that these posts are for general questions about these topics that will be helpful for a wide number of people. If you have a specific personal or animal situation that you need help with, please schedule a consultation.)

Today’s question comes from Stephanie:

I’m caring for an elder family member, and it’s taking a toll on me physically and emotionally. My difficulty is that I now find it very difficult to communicate with the animals as I could before, because I am so tired. I would love to be able to do it as I could when I first learned.

Do you have any suggestions for communicating with the animals under these circumstances? For me it is an activity of the soul; it is just very difficult to enter the space where it happens because of my exhaustion.

This is such a relevant and common question…in fact, I think it comes up in almost every class that I teach. Whether it’s caring for a human or animal family member who is ill, overwork from job stress, family challenges, or our own health issues, being fatigued is one of the biggest difficulties that many people face in being able to consistently access their ability to communicate telepathically with animals and open their intuitive abilities.

Unfortunately, the simple answer is not always easy, or possible in all cases: rest. If our bodies and spirits are too fatigued, it’s really hard to be clear. With experience, you can learn how to open your intuition and telepathic abilities reliably, even under circumstances that aren’t optimal…but for most people, this takes time, practice, and a certain amount of reliable experience to fall back on.

Many people need a sense of spaciousness, openness, balance, calm, and quiet in order to reliably send and receive telepathic communication, especially in the beginning stages of rediscovering this ability. When this sense of balance and space isn’t available, it’s easy to become frustrated and feel like you’ve “lost it.”

You haven’t lost it–this ability is natural, inborn, and one that we all have access to. But it can be hard to remember, uncover, and feel in the middle of the demands of a full and challenging life situation.

I recommend that you find small ways throughout your day to connect, without trying to have a two-way conversation–just opening to being in quiet presence with your animal friends. Even if it’s just for a few minutes, sitting outside on your lunch break, feeling the sun on your body and opening your awareness to the birds, or before you get out of bed in the morning while cuddling with your cat, or when feeding or grooming your animal friends…take some time to pay attention to your breath, feel your feet connected to the earth, feel your own body and be aware of your animal’s body… and just open into a soft space of presence and BE-ing with your animal friends. Don’t try to “hear” or “talk” or “send” or “receive”–just BE.

Drop your expectations of what you want to experience or how you may have received telepathic communication before, and just spend a few moments resting in quiet presence with your animals. (In my Beginning Animal Communication Class, the first exercise we do, and one we repeat frequently, is an exercise on being present with your animal friend. There is no two-way communication involved or expected–it’s just being together in quiet presence.)

See if you can accept what you are experiencing in your life right now–including the challenges, the fatigue, the difficult situation–and see what happens with your animal friends. You may not receive in the ways you’ve received previously, but you may notice other ways of perceiving and interacting opening up for you.

You may also notice that you drop off to sleep…this is common, and it seems obvious, but I’ll say it: you may need sleep more than you need anything else right now. Or a hot cup of tea. Or a short walk in the woods. Honor your own body, emotions, and spirit the way that you would a beloved animal friend, and invite your animal friends to assist you. They are right there, loving you, supporting you, and open to your connection…whether it feels clear to you or not.

My cat friend Louie frequently advises people to take naps in the sun and roll in the dirt. If you can take his advice for even for a few minutes a day, it will help you!